Who knew that Tom Hardy, the new Batman villain and
Warrior warrior, could be so funny?

Reese Witherspoon? Sure.

Chris Pine? No surprise there.

Hardy, though?

In
This Means War, Hardy and Pine — as CIA pals who always get their man — audition to become
James Bond and Ethan Hunt. And they play guys who use all their spy craft — and plenty of
national-security infrastructure — in competing to woo the same winsome blonde, Lauren
(Witherspoon).

Dating a spy, as audiences have learned from the recently released
Safe House, is considered tricky.

He or she will lie — or at least be a little disingenuous.

“Have you ever killed anybody with your bare hands?”

“Not this week.”

Hardy appears as Tuck, a shy dad split from his son’s mother and vulnerable enough to seem
attractive to online date Lauren, who works as a product tester at a marketing company.

Pine is seen as F.D.R., a rich playboy always ready with a line: “I know movies — and
women."

Such a pickup is as out-of-date as the video store where it is tried.

In a heartbeat, the previously alone Lauren is juggling two guys.

Who might be Mr. Long-Term?

The guys being spies, they find out. And, as Bugs Bunny used to say: “Of course, you know this
means war.”

So they set up a “gentlemen’s agreement” — with rules such as “Don’t tell her” they know, “Stay
out of each other’s way” and “No hanky-panky.”

The action-packed romantic comedy was directed by
Charlie’s Angels veteran McG, who handles the shifts in tone with the requisite skill.

One minute, they’re having a shootout with the villain (Til Schweiger) and his henchmen; the
next, they’re employing every gadget and every form of privacy invasion known to the CIA in their
battle to woo the woman and keep the other guy from getting her.

The nameless assistants aren’t in on why they’re using wiretaps and spy satellites to keep tabs
on her.

The guys play more fleshed-out characters, and Hardy seems to enjoy showing off a softer
side.

Witherspoon’s character is on shakier ground. She’s single and insecure about it — but confident
and mercenary enough to play these two in ways that any frat boy would appreciate. And, no matter
what she has done, she gets to play the victim.

This Means War seems packaged, market-researched and factory-sealed for our protection —
from the comical way in which the boys treat an impending torture scene to Chelsea Handler, as
Lauren’s confidante, being given a purse packed with zingers.

But it’s a brisk sprint over familiar ground with just enough appeal to action addicts and
romantic- comedy lovers to amuse fans of both genres.